Author Archives: Rosie Scribblah

Sneaky Scribbling

I was at a meeting yesterday and while I was concentrating [honest!] I snuck my sketchbook out and scribbled away under the table for a few minutes. I like doing these very quick, surreptitious little portraits because it forces you to identify and capture what it’s absolutely vital to record because you don’t have theContinue reading “Sneaky Scribbling”

Life On His Own Terms

Sitting on a public bench in the city centre at the end of a long day, waiting to meet Husb to walk home and watching other workers doing last-minute shopping and heading for buses and cars, I spotted a local character standing opposite, so of course I grabbed my sketchbook and had a scribble. IContinue reading “Life On His Own Terms”

Discipline And Plotting

I’m an expressionist scribbler, preferring to draw freehand as much as possible. But now and again it’s good to get some discipline into my work to refine my technique. Here’s a plotted drawing I did a while back, using a very simple rough grid to plot the main points of the body and relate themContinue reading “Discipline And Plotting”

Quick Kitteh Scribbles

Some days I really don’t want to draw. Mostly though, I grit my teeth and do it because I don’t want to fall into the trap of being undisciplined. That’s when the cats come in handy. They’re great for speed sketching because, unless they’re snoozing, they don’t keep still for long, they’re very fidgety littleContinue reading “Quick Kitteh Scribbles”

What’s In My Handbag?

At last, a break in the appalling weather, sunshine and a trip to Tenby! I’ve been to Tenby so often recently that I should buy a house there, I love the place. I went with some of my family, three generations of us, and we decamped to the beach for a picnic and a fewContinue reading “What’s In My Handbag?”

Colour, Vibration, Reality

I’ve been re-reading one of my favourite art books, Victoria Finlay’s ‘Colour: Travels Through The Paintbox‘. Most of my books on colour are dry and rather academic but this is a rare book – well researched, informative, intelligent AND beautifully written. She’s a social anthropologist turned journalist with a passion for art and that passionContinue reading “Colour, Vibration, Reality”

Comfort Eating

I know the British summer is notoriously fickle but today takes the biscuit. It’s been so cold and wet that Husb and I went to the Continental Cafe for a full roast dinner at lunchtime, and lashings of hot tea, wrapped in layers of jumpers and raincoats. And now this evening there’s a storm goingContinue reading “Comfort Eating”

The Fall of the House of Frolic

It’s been one of those typical British Summer days – cold and pouring down with rain, so husb and I have been following a typical British Bank Holiday tradition of Do-It-Yourself and we wallpapered the bedroom. I’ve spent nearly all evening filling out an online application for the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers first OpenContinue reading “The Fall of the House of Frolic”

I Don’t Do Nature

I draw people and occasionally, at a push, animals but I don’t do nature. I’ve just finished Martin Gayford’s book about his conversationas with David Hockney and he discusses his new-ish paintings from the countryside surrounding his home in the north of England, so I thought I should break out of my comfort zone andContinue reading “I Don’t Do Nature”